Public’s Help Sought In Search For Riverside County Teen With Special Needs

WILDOMAR (CBSLA.com) — The search continues for a missing special needs teen who disappeared from his high school campus in Riverside on Tuesday.

Eighteen-year-old David Sota was last seen leaving Elsinore High School on Canyon Drive at about 8:45 Tuesday morning.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department tells KCAL9’s Tom Wait that Soto has autism, suffers from schizophrenia and has a diminished mental capacity — and investigators are asking volunteers to join the search.

“He has some underlying medical issues that concern us — really we’re just asking for the public’s help,” a department spokesperson said.

Mikel Alford is among community members banding together in a bid to help solve the mysterious disappearance.

“Everyone has a family at the end of the day, and if it was my child I would want to make sure that somebody came out and helped me look for him,” Alford said.

Soto is six feet tall and 130 pounds.

His family says he has disappeared before but has always been found.

Police say they will continue searching into the evening and will put up helicopters with infrared sensors in hopes of locating the student.